Improvement in ingot-molds



UNrrEnSrn'rEs PATENT S. DURFEE, OF-TROY, NEW YORK.

rMPRovEMENTIN lNeoT-MoLDs.

Spbcification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 107,766, dated September 27, 1870.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Z. S. DURFEE, of Troy,

'in the county, of Rensselaer, in the State of ,New York, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Oastin g Ingots of Steel; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. My invention consists in a novel arrangement and construction of cluster or compound ingot-molds, whereby they are made more cheaply and are more easily and economically Worked, and whereby, also', the iugots made therein can be cast sounder and more perfect at their tops.

Figure l of the drawings is a vertical section of the molds ron the line 1 2 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 3 4 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a plan of the base; and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 show other plans of arranging the molds and the runners in them.

A A A are the molds; B, the base-plate, on which they rest; G C, the passages or channels for the ow of the metal, which may be partly'in the molds and partly in the surface of the base-plate B, or entirely in the baseplate, as may be preferred, and may be lined or not with refractory non-conducting material, as may be found convenient. P is a movable plug, to take the weight and wear of the stream of metal, which is poured in at A. F F are projections on the base-plate B, by means of which and the keys Gr Gr the molds may be keyed together; and H AlEI are stoppAers for closing the tops of the outside molds The channels D D may run to the centersv plans.

The operation of the molds is as follows: The molds are placed upon the base in their proper positions, as indicated in the plans,

and are keyed into place by the wooden keys Wooden or other elastic keys are desirable, as otherwise the expansion of the molds would be likely to break off the projections F F; but it is not, in general, necessary to key the molds together, as their weight is sufficient to keep them in place.

The surfaces of the base-plates B B, on which the molds rest, should be made even and smooth, as also the bottoms of the molds; but no other precaution need be taken to prevent aleakage of the metal between the two unless a very high sinking-head is used in the central mold, in which case it will be necessary to wedge or fasten the outside molds sufficiently to counteract the tendency of the ferrostatic pressure to raise them. A little sand may, however, be thrown about the out side of the molds on the base-plate to take up any small leakage or droppings of metal which may take place in the casting operation.

VThe metal will be tapped or allowed to flow into the top of the central mold, A', (a funnel of fire-clay being used when desirable,) and, falling upon the plug or button P, will be distributed through the runners G (l and rise in the outer molds, A A, all the molds being iilled simultaneously until the outside molds are full, after which the central mold may be filled as nearly as may be necessary to produce the desired pressure in the outer molds, and thus prevent piping, and render the ingots more solid and uniform. A

The holes in the tops of the outside molds should be kept open while the metal is rising in the molds, so las to allowr the gases to escape, the plugs or 'Stoppers H H being inserted just before the molds are full.

-When the ingots are set, the wedges holding the molds together may be driven out, and

the molds removed from the in gots in the usual way.

Casting in gots in cluster or compound molds is an old plan; but in all cases in which I have known this to be attempted or practiced the molds were of much more complicated construction than mine, as it has probably been supposed that either the metal would not run What I do claim isthrough grooves so arranged as are mine7 Cluster or compound molds constructed and or that it Would lea-k between the bottoms operatedsubstantially as herein described, and of the molds and base-plate unless much shown in the accompanying drawings.

more expensive measures than I have taken 1 should be used to prevent it. I do not there- Z' s DURFEL' fore claim, broadly, the use of cluster or com- Witnesses:

pound molds in casting steel or other metals; JONAS S. HEARTT,

but H. G. CLARK. 

